High Seas Slow Hunt For Remains

March 11, 1986|By James Fisher of The Sentinel Staff (Reporters John J. Glisch, Jim Leusner and Dan Tracy contributed to this story.)

CAPE CANAVERAL — The somber work of recovering pieces of the shuttle Challenger's shattered crew cabin and remains of the doomed ship's astronauts depend on the whim of nature today after two days of rough seas.

Salvage operations were interrupted Sunday and Monday because of high winds and rough seas. The salvage ship USS Preserver was forced to return to port late Monday and was expected to return to sea again today, weather permitting.

One source described the remains as pieces, not bodies. Whether all seven crew members were accounted for could not be determined.

The Preserver salvage ship brought the remains to Port Canaveral Saturday night, witnesses said. The ship, with its running lights turned off, was met by astronaut Robert Overmyer, technicians in white coats and a van.

The remains were taken to the Patrick hospital for examination by experts from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, based in Washington, D.C.

NASA announced Sunday that divers had found the remains and debris from the crew cabin in 100 feet of water Friday 18 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral after sonar readings had indicated the presence of a large piece of wreckage. On Saturday, another group of divers from the Preserver positively identified debris from the 17-by-18-foot crew compartment and human remains.

NASA's announcement Sunday did not mention that remains had been brought ashore.

A source said that divers ''have not been able to recover anything for the last two days because of high seas.''

Depending on sea conditions, recovery operations may not be completed for several days, Lt. Cmdr. Deborah Burnette said.

Waves exceeded 6 feet Monday afternoon, she said. Divers were not working at that time, but Burnette said she didn't know if they had entered the water during the day.

NASA officials said Monday they will not comment on any aspect of recovery of the crew remains and shuttle cabin until the work is completed, out of deference to the astronauts' families. But a source close to the investigation into the accident said debris brought to Kennedy Space Center over the weekend was from a hatch on the middeck that leads to the airlock outside the cargo bay.

The forensic experts have set up an examining room in a small mortuary area of the hospital, a source said.

The pathologists will study the remains of the crew and cabin to piece together a scenario of the astronauts' last moments and the actual cause of their deaths.

The hospital has no forensic capability ''except for a reservist who comes in periodically,'' said Lt. Col. Bob Nicholson, an Air Force spokesman. He wouldn't comment about any recovery operations.

The crew compartment is a self-contained pressurized module that fits into the shell of the shuttle's fuselage like a cocoon. Stronger than the rest of the orbiter, it has two crew decks and areas for computers and storage.

Burnette said she did know the condition of the debris, but added ''it is not in the same condition it left the launch pad in -- it is not intact.''

A source said the debris indicated that the crew compartment appeared to be damaged more by the 9-mile fall to the water than by the explosion.

The site of the crew compartment debris had been estimated at 25 miles offshore, but Burnette said Monday it was actually about 18 miles northeast of the launch pad.

Salvage of the cabin could mean the recovery of valuable tapes and computer data that could tell technicians more about the last few moments of Challenger's flight.

''There may be a way to go in and see what that last word or last bit of information said,'' said NASA spokesman Jim Mizell. ''But I don't think it will provide much significant new information.''

The shuttle is not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder like a commercial airplane.

However, intercom conversations among the crew members were being taped and some of the astronauts carried handheld recorders that might have been on during the launch.

In addition, the shuttle's five main computers may hold scraps of data that were not transmitted.

If the tapes are recovered, they might have been damaged by heat or the force of the blast, said Henry Owen, a spokesman for the 3M Co. in St. Paul, Minn., which makes recording tapes.

Depending on the tapes' condition, ''There are technologies that can be used to enhance damaged tape,'' he said. 3M technicians ''on occasion have done this for people whose tapes have been damaged by fire or other means.''

Computer experts also believe they will be able to recover some data by reading magnetic patterns on the shuttle computers' ferrite core memories, a type of memory different from computer chips, said a spokesman for IBM, which built the computers.

Meanwhile Monday, the salvage ship Stena Workhorse recovered a second large piece of the shuttle's left booster rocket in a different part of the 400-square-mile search area.

The piece, a 10-by-7-foot section weighing 4,700 pounds, was raised at about 2 p.m. Salvors on Saturday brought ashore a 4,200-pound piece of the left booster, and Monday were preparing to retrieve a third piece, Burnette said.

By Monday, the cost of the search and recovery operations had reached $5 million and involved 11 surface ships, two manned submarines and three robot submarines, according to NASA and the Navy.

The search is estimated to be costing $4 million a month.

Retrieval of the left booster segments is considered a rehearsal for salvage of the critical right booster pieces.

Experts have testified that a leak of superhot gases and flames from the right booster triggered the explosion, but they have not pinpointed a cause of the booster failure.